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Press Releases
Sir David Attenborough voted Britain's Greatest Living Icon
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Legendary naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has been named
Britain's Greatest Living Icon by the audience of 91Èȱ¬ Two's The Culture Show.
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Sir David received more than a third of the 200,000 votes cast.
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He was on the programme to hear the results, announced by Lauren Laverne on
Saturday 16 December at 7.50pm.
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The Living Icons campaign has been truly democratic since its launch on
14 October when the public were asked to nominate individuals who they
felt had made the greatest impact on British cultural life.
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More than 600 names
were put forward as living icons before a shortlist of the ten most popular
names was drawn up.
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Pop goliaths Morrissey and Sir Paul McCartney were voted second and third
respectively.
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Sir David said he was "amazed" to have won.
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As to the reason for the
overwhelming number of votes he received, he said: "I hope that the kind of programmes I produce have something to do with the
understanding of the natural world.
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"And certainly an understanding of the
natural world has never been more important and never more remote in a
curious way because over half the population of the world live in cities -
away from the natural world - and yet, they're having a greater effect on the
natural world than they have ever had."
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Richard Boll, the winner of this year's Photographic Portrait Prize at the
National Portrait Gallery, has been commissioned to create a new portrait of
Sir David.
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This will be unveiled in The Culture Show's new series next year,
and displayed at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
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Pictures of all the three icons, specially chosen from the National Portrait
Gallery's Photography Collection, are on display in the National
Portrait Gallery London and the National Gallery of Scotland until the end of
December.
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Notes to Editors
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 The Top Ten icons were announced on Saturday 11 November after
members of the public nominated individuals they felt had made the biggest
contribution to British culture.
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The top ten in order is:
1 Sir David Attenborough
2 Morrissey
3 Sir Paul McCartney
4 David Bowie
5 Sir Michael Caine
6 Stephen Fry
7 Kate Bush
8 Alan Bennett
9 Kate Moss
10 Dame Vivienne Westwood Ìý
Further information about all the people in the top ten is available
on bbc.co.uk/livingicons.
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KG
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